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Retail footfall falls following Black Friday and Cyber Monday

UK bricks-and-mortar retailers have taken a hit from the aftermath of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2015, according to footfall analysts Springboard.

Last week retail footfall was down two per cent compared with 2014. This was a result of shoppers seeking bargains in online flash sales rather than heading in-store to make purchases.

There have been significant falls in high street and shopping centre activity, with decreases of 4.2 per cent and 3.4 per cent year-on-year. However, retail parks saw a two per cent increase, down on the same week in 2014 when footfall increased by 3.7 per cent.

Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: “The volume of activity in retail stores in the week following the Black Friday weekend has dipped further on the back of strong activity within the ecommerce space.

“While the last payday before Christmas has traditionally driven a spike in sales for bricks-and-mortar retailers, there is strong evidence that the spending patterns of consumers are changing. For the first time this year, The Black Friday long weekend was an online shopping experience for consumers, and it appears that click and collect opportunities have not generated the uplifts in footfall that some retailers may have hoped for.

“Leading into Christmas, we expect to see online shopping continue to make dents in footfall activity. However, as most last order dates for online Christmas shopping occur on December 18 and 19, it is possible we will see that traditional spike in footfall on December 23 as consumers head in store for last minute Christmas buying.“